Identity

Identity. It’s the one thing that all people struggle with. Everyone asks “Who Am I?”. It’s a focal point in American society. We see people dance inappropriately on stage or have sex in movies just because they struggle with their identity or because they haven’t even begun to find their identity. Bringing it closer to home – when was the last time you had an identity crisis – did something you didn’t actually want to do or regretted something you did in private? It hasn’t been long for me. I probably have at least one identity crisis every day.

One thing that has been continuously confirmed in my life is that our identity is already confirmed in Christ. God sees us through the spotless lens that Jesus created for us by dying on the cross. We are pure and clean and holy. God knows who he created us to be. It doesn’t matter what we say, do, or think, our God-given identity never changes.

I need to accept that as reality and truth. It’s ridiculous that I fight this battle all the time. It doesn’t matter what I can or cannot do or even what people think about me. My identity is in Christ.

I’ve noticed the theme of identity show up in my life consistently over the past couple of years, beginning with my acceptance to The World Race. At first, it frustrated me that World Race Culture included over-used words like identity, intentional, feedback, and others, but then I realized that all of those things are very important. God has been refining this idea of identity through a new house and roommates. It’s something we’ve been struggling with.

It’s understandable, though, that when you bring seven guys together and throw them in to a house – there’s going to be some identity crises. We’ve had our fair share. There’s been conflict and tension and disagreement, but there’s also been refinement, acceptance, and forgiveness. It’s been incredible to watch actually.

We have been talking a lot about identity at our weekly house dinners on Monday nights. This last Monday, Biagio brought up a good question. He asked us what image we wanted to portray and create for the public. It made us all think. I immediately thought of this verse:

We talked about it and we eventually came to a consensus about our corporate identity as a group of men. We want people to see our house as a safe place, full of life and love. We don’t want people to have to worry about being hurt or wounded here. We want to be seven men that fully and heavily pursue God’s will and direction in our lives. We want to speak life over people that walk in to our house and we want to support and love and celebrate them whenever we get the opportunity to.

We’re still figuring out what it means to live together and commit to one another. We’re still learning how to love each other and how to push others to greatness. It’s been tough, but it’s also been fun!

Just in case you don’t recognize the drab colors here 😉 this is Waffle House with six-out-of-seven of the La Casa Rosa men